Ezekiel 39:9, commentary and pictures

The verse pictures those dwelling in the cities of Israel going out after the defeat of the northern invaders to gather shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, handstaves and spears, and burning them as fuel for seven years. The arms are the wooden weapons then in use that could be made into fires, and the seven years are literal years. The promise belonged to the restoration offered after Babylon, to be fulfilled if Israel yielded to God wholeheartedly, forsook sin and obeyed Him, upon which He would conquer their enemies and manifest His glory among them in the sight of the nations. Israel did not truly repent but returned half-heartedly with only about forty thousand, so the prophecy was fulfilled only in a very small and feeble part and the detailed burning of weapons for seven years will never be fulfilled as written in a literal future fulfillment. Its greater fulfillment comes in the glory of the second coming of Christ and the new heavens and new earth, showing how complete the annihilation of the enemies of the true Israel of God will be, without the local conditions of the prophet's day and without literal burning by human hands, because the fires of the last day consume sin.

Words and Setting

The dwellers in the cities of Israel go forth after the defeat of the invaders to set on fire and burn the weapons left behind. The arms burned are shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, handstaves and spears. They are used as fuel for seven years.

The arms are the wooden weapons then in use that could be made into fires. They are unlike the weapons of modern armies, which are not equipped with weapons of that kind. The seven years are literal years in which those dwelling in the cities of Israel burn the wooden weapons of the defeated northern invaders.

The setting is a peaceful, prosperous Israel dwelling safely in unwalled villages with cattle, goods and wealth in the land of Palestine. A great horde from the north led by Magog comes against them. The destruction of those enemies is accompanied by plagues falling upon them.

The seven years are also taught as a seven-year war of Zion with her enemies, in which the children of God contend with their enemies, spoiling those that spoiled them and robbing those that robbed them. The burning of the weapons with fire is a moral warfare in which by the fire of truth they burn up the enemies' weapons, so that they need take no wood out of the field nor cut down any out of the forests. The seven years are prophetic years equaling 2520 common years, beginning when Babylon began to spoil and rob them and ending in 1843. The verse is one exception to the general destruction of the wicked at the beginning of the day of the Lord, in that in one place people burn weapons for the specified time of seven years.

Conditional Promise to Israel

The closing chapters of Ezekiel, chapters 33 to 48, and more particularly chapters 36 to 48 and chapters 38 to 40, are consolation and promise about restoration and show God's love for His house. They promised full restoration after Babylon, bringing back all scattered Israel to the mountains of Israel, dwelling among them with glory never seen before, building a new and far greater sanctuary, giving victory over enemies, and manifesting God's glory among His people in the sight of the nations. The promised blessings depended on Israel's faithfulness, calling the people to return to God and receive the good things promised through the prophets.

That fulfillment depended on Israel yielding to God, returning wholeheartedly and with all the heart, obeying Him, forsaking sin, putting away wickedness, and being ashamed of iniquities. Upon those conditions God would have conquered their enemies and brought the kings of the North and enemies far and near into subjection. The prophecy in Ezekiel 37-48 is therefore conditional upon what the Lord would do for His people if they yielded to Him.

Had Israel met the conditions at the restoration from Babylon, God would have restored Israel and delivered His people from their enemies in a great slaughter of the northern nations called Gog and Magog sweeping down from the north. Israel would then have literally burned their wooden weapons then in use that could be made into fires, shields and bucklers and bows and arrows and handstaves and spears, for seven literal years. Zerubbabel's temple would have been made far greater and grander, His children would have become the joy of the whole earth and a light to the world, and the Lord would have cut off all their enemies if God's people had heeded the prophet's words.

Israel did not truly repent but returned half-heartedly, followed the ways of other nations, refused to be ashamed, and did not put away iniquities, with only about forty thousand returning from captivity. The conditions were never met, so the prophecy was never fulfilled in its fullness and would have been fulfilled in far larger measure at the return from Babylon had obedience been given. It was fulfilled only in a very small, feeble part or mere shadow, dwindling to Zerubbabel's smaller temple and faint prosperity after Babylon instead of the full restoration.

The detailed events described, including the seven-year burning of weapons, belonged to Israel's own day and were local and incidental to that time. Because ancient Israel did not meet the conditions of faith and obedience, those detailed events will never be fulfilled as written or as described, though some other parts of the prophecy will be fulfilled in the last days and the future promises to true Israel will be fulfilled in a different and glorious measure as later revelations describe.

Future Fulfillment Described

The burning of wooden weapons for seven years belonged to the original historical setting of the promise and does not describe the last great conflict. Its fulfillment under the new covenant will not follow every detail of the prophecy, because modern weapons and earthly conditions are different. The weapon-burning was local and incidental to Israel's own day, and would have been literally true if Israel had met the conditions and been delivered from the northern foes in a great slaughter, but Israel did not meet them, so it was never fulfilled and will never be fulfilled as written. Some other parts of the prophecy will still be fulfilled in the last days.

The closing restoration of Ezekiel was never literally fulfilled and never will be literally fulfilled as described. Because Israel did not put away wickedness, return in faith and obedience, and become ashamed of iniquities, the detailed events including the seven-year burning of weapons failed of literal fulfillment and only a mere shadow was realized instead of Israel becoming a light to the world. What remains is only faintly typical of what will take place in the new heavens and new earth when God restores all things by His mighty power.

The promise will yet have greater fulfillment in the glory of the second coming of Jesus Christ and events connected with it, with the promised restoration fulfilled in glorious measure in the future. That fulfillment will be without the local conditions of the prophet's day, with no literal burning of weapons and no cleansing of the land by human hands, because the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat. What would have been fulfilled in Israel's day if the people had forsaken sin and returned to God with all the heart, with Zerubbabel's temple made far greater and grander and His children made the joy of the whole earth, was fulfilled only in very small part in a smaller temple and faint prosperity, and its fulfillment was therefore deferred to the last days under conditions that would make it broader, stronger, and more glorious.

In its main setting the verse points forward to the close of time, showing how complete the annihilation of Israel's enemies will be, so that God designs that nothing belonging to them be left to pollute the land. It points to the complete victories given to the true Israel of God when all the true Israel are redeemed and placed in possession of their everlasting reward. It points in general to God's final punishment of those who destroy His people, with judgments connected with events described more fully in Revelation rather than a literal last-days conflict with modern armies unequipped with wooden arms that could serve as fuel. Its local and incidental reference to ancient Israel depended on what Israel herself was to do, which she did not do, so it remains without fulfillment so far as ancient Israel is concerned and will not be fulfilled literally in the future.

The events of the chapter are not all fulfilled in one period or in every detail as a literal prophecy. Part involves a national judgment with divisions of nations and aggregation of nations that takes place before Christ comes, with the destruction pictured accompanied by plagues falling upon the enemies, and some belongs at the end of the thousand years as the clearer prophecies in Revelation show. It does not describe the time at the end of the thousand years when all the dead of all ages are raised, because then national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated.

Had Israel remained faithful God's people would have occupied Palestine as a separate people invaded by the great confederacy of evil plotting against their territory. In the present fulfillment God's people are scattered throughout the world, while the evil plan still aims to secure the territory once occupied by Israel and destroy God's people wherever they are. Ezekiel 39:9-16 is an obscure prophecy in which the prophet glances very clearly to the scene of the last days, yet where to draw a clear line between what refers to the past and what refers to the future is not easy.

The verse gives no support for a special future work for the Jews in the Christian dispensation, the reign of Christ, and an earthly inheritance of the saints. Christ receives the saints to Himself in heaven at the second coming when the earth is desolated, and that desolation overthrows the return-of-the-Jews theory drawn from the verse.

Gog and the Nations

Gog denotes great northern powers, ambitious powers whose spirit is that of Satan and whose ambition is to rule in place of all others. The prophecy concerns Russia and its ruler Gog, foretelling Russia's important role in the closing events of world history. Gog's final defeat is Russia's ruin at the end of the world. The prophecy presents the descendants of Noah divided in the earth after the Flood by name and by country, and in that setting reveals Russia and her international policy and her ultimate destiny.

Russia is identified with the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, called Rosh in the Revised Version. Japan is one means God uses to turn Russia back. Its being turned back with Japan involved and its being brought forth in the present European war foretells present-day conditions and European affairs. The prophecy is partly fulfilled, with much still to come to pass in the immediate and near future amid rapidly developing events of national interest and worldwide import and distress of nations with perplexity. It is given for warning before fulfillment, to be carefully studied as history foretold, bringing eternal salvation to some and everlasting destruction to others. The great Gog and Magog conflict thus connects to an approaching vast conflict involving the nations, discerned amid contemporary events.

Ezekiel 39 names Persia among the powers gathered for the final battle and promises that God will gather His people from the nations and bring them to their own land. The alignment of nations for Armageddon signals that the gospel must also be carried to those nations, including Persia, so that God's people may be gathered from among them. The prophecy is of a last great northern apostasy that sweeps over the Holy Land with great power and destruction. Gog and Magog are among the enemies who receive God's final doom, representing in the end-time application the wicked whom Satan gathers after the thousand years to attack the saints and the city of God.

Prophetic Connections Applied

The burning of the weapons for seven years is a detail that might have occurred if Israel had fulfilled the Lord's conditions and been established in its land. The broader outline of Ezekiel 38-39 concerns the gathering for Armageddon. The verse belongs to the sanctuary prophecy of Ezekiel 37 to 48, which was conditional upon Israel's acceptance or rejection and will never be built literally. It must be read in light of the clearer New Testament revelation that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and partakers of God's promise in Christ by the Gospel, in which there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian. No interpretation that excludes God's great Gospel work to the world for all alike is valid.

The destruction described in Ezekiel 38 and 39 will occur in a place other than Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom. It does not describe punishment in Gehenna but a separate destruction elsewhere. The verse belongs to prophecies of judgments against the wicked nations which, controlled by Satan, seek to destroy God's people. Those judgments are part of God's direct and explicit promises of great blessing in the salvation of Israel, His people.